The “Claude Never Plays the Kids” club will have to ignore Seth Griffith’s existence for the next little while.

With the right wing job on David Krejci‘s line remaining up for grabs early in the season, on Tuesday Julien gave Griffith, a 21-year-old second year pro, the biggest vote of confidence the youngster has received so far: he kept him on the line in the third period. Griffith then rewarded the decision by tying the game at three with his first career NHL goal.

After the first game of Griffith’s three-game stint in the lineup last week, the Bruins signed Simon Gagne and played him in Griffith’s place in the third periods of the team’s games against Detroit and Montreal. Those games saw Griffith get some chances (he rang iron in Montreal), but the B’s stuck with Gagne late in the one-goal games.

Griffith was scratched Saturday sent down Sunday to play in Providence and recalled Monday. After skating the first two periods on the Krejci line and Boston’s top power play unit, Griffith was kept with Krejci and Lucic to play key minutes in a one-goal game.

It paid off when Thomas Hertl accidentally knocked a loose puck into the high slot while trying to wrest the puck from Lucic. Griffith leaned into it and fired a wrist shot past defenseman Jason Demers and goaltender Antti Niemi at 4:50 of the third. It may have only been his fourth career NHL game, but by the way Griffith jumped against the glass in celebration, the goal was a big relief.

“Obviously every player when they get their first couple games they want to score right away,” Griffith said. “I’m happy it came sooner rather than later.”

Julien’s faith in the youngster appears to be growing as the team searches to find a full-time replacement for Jarome Iginla. That replacement may not yet be on the roster, but for now Julien thinks Griffith is giving him enough reasons to keep him with Krejci.

“Because he played well,” Julien said when asked what made him stick with Griffith Tuesday. “When he was playing well I thought he made some great plays. This isn’t because he scored; I think he scored because he played well. I just thought he was pretty good. [The Sharks are] a big team and I thought he handled himself well along the walls and making good plays.”

Added Julien: “If those guys are going to get better, sometimes you’ve got to put them in those positions when you feel they’re doing well enough to warrant that.”

Considering he was a relatively early cut from camp, Griffith has to be more than happy with where the season has taken him. Part of it is the fact that he’s the best right-shooting wing option the B’s have, but if the Bruins give him a prolonged look, perhaps he can make his case for a full-time job.

“We’re starting to get a little chemistry going,” Griffith said. “It’s good to see but it’s not too hard playing with two great players like that.”

WILMINGTON — As his team prepares to take on San Jose, the Islanders and Toronto this week, Claude Julien can finally sense things coming together after a sluggish start.

The Bruins started 1-2-0, including an ugly 4-0 loss to the Capitals on home ice and a brutal 2-1 loss to Colorado in the final second. After beating the Red Wings in a shootout, the Bruins were embarrassed again in Montreal, featuring the emotional meltdown of Milan Lucic.

But things finally seemed to click in Buffalo, where Niklas Svedberg earned his first career shutout in just his third NHL start. The 4-0 win seemed to give the Julien and the team something to build on. Two wins in three games doesn’t classify as red-hot, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction the way Julien sees it.

“I don’t know if it’s how far we’ve come or how far we have to go,” Julien said. “I think it’s just a matter of us continuing to get better as a team. I think it’s still early in the season and I think there are a lot of teams that are probably saying the same thing. It takes certain guys a while to get going. It takes others even longer. Some guys get off to a good start and then they slow down.

“We’re just looking at our team as a whole. I think what we’re looking for is consistency and we’re looking for an identity. And that’s what we’re starting to get right now, more of an identity. I think we’ve been a lot more consistent in the last three games.”

What is that identity?

“Same as it’s always been,” Julien said, referring to his team’s tough, rugged style that relies on good defense, a good forecheck, stellar goaltending and opportunistic play around the net.

NESN Bruins analyst Andy Brickley made his first weekly appearance of the 2014-15 season Wednesday, hours before the Bruins drop the puck against the Flyers in the opener at TD Garden. To hear the interview, go the MFB audio on demand page.

Prognosticators think highly of the Bruins heading into the campaign, and Brickley explained there’s a good reason for that.

“I don’t know if they’ve gotten better in any one particular area other than a little bit more experience,” Brickley said. “I think they have the strengths that most teams that want to be an elite team have. You try to build teams from the goal line on out. So they have a goaltender that won the Vezina in the last year, obviously, Tuukka [Rask] is tremendously talented and calm and has that demeanor that everybody likes to play in front of.

“They have a real good defensive corps led by Zdeno Chara. They play a defense-first system. They play a backchecking formula that really, really pays off, which is one of the main reasons that they play four lines. The demand by Claude Julien and his coaching staff to have that back pressure to help out the team defense part of the game is almost unmatched across the league. And it really stands out when you break down tape just how committed the Bruins forwards are to get back and play defense and pressure the puck and try to turn defense into offense with turnovers and control the middle of the ice — that’s that straight-down-the-middle phrase that I use.

“And then try to have their offense be a balanced scoring attack along with quality special teams. They were the third-best power play in the league last year, that has a lot to do with the infusion of young talent that they got — like a Dougie Hamilton, like a Torey Krug, they both play power play on different units. Reilly Smith comes in in that deal for [Tyler] Seguin, he gives you a different element, a little bit more speed, a little bit more skill up front. It allows Chara to play the front of the net — whether you thought that was going to be a successful and productive experiment or not, it has paid off for the Bruins.

“So, that’s the formula for success. That’s why the Jeremy Roenicks and the Barry Melroses feel that the Bruins, relative to every other team in the Eastern Conference, that they’re right there at the top.”

“I don’t think my thoughts differ from anybody else,” Julien said after his team’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Red Wings Saturday night. “I think we’re all disappointed to see him leave. As I mentioned, Peter [Chiarelli] eluded to that in his press conference. It stings for everybody. He was a good player, he was a good person, very well liked.

“Unfortunately our game is in that position where sometimes we’re forced to make those unpopular decisions. For a coaching staff, we’ll miss him like everybody else. But we have a job to do, and we feel we have a lot of good players here that we can certainly overcome this. And that’s just the way it goes, and part of hockey, and part of a tough day. You hope we’ll be able to turn the page here and by the time we start the season we’ll be ready to go.”

That position, of course, is a result of a salary cap squeeze, brought on – in part – with the signing of David Krejci. Now, the 30-year-old Boychuk (due $3.4 million in the final year of his three-year contract) will head to the Islanders while Julien is left to find a replacement to pair with Dennis Seidenberg.

He has several options, starting with Matt Bartkowski. Adam McQuaid, Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug will also be asked to carry a bigger load.

“I think there’s no doubt that the experience those young guys got was valuable,” Julien said. “But at the same time, we’ve got to remember that we’ve got Seidenberg, we’ve got McQuaid back in our lineup, which is two more veterans. That certainly helps that youth maybe not be so young. So those are things. But the guys that got that experience ‘ you’re talking about Bartkowski, talking about Krug, you know Dougie Hamilton. I think those things will certainly pay off for us.”

Claude Julien has given more than a couple of … let’s say “motivational” quotes about Ryan Spooner the last couple of days, as the Bruins coach has answered questions about the 2010 second-round pick with some rather blunt responses.

So after Wednesday’s game, Spooner was asked straight-up: Does he think his coach is trying to motivate him with his public comments?

“Yeah,” Spooner said. “At the end of the day I think he just wants me to be a more all-around player. It’s something that I’ve been trying to improve on, so I’m just going to go forward with it like that.”

Here’s what Julien said Tuesday when asked about Spooner knowing he was blocked on the depth chart in training camp last year:

“Maybe that’s why he didn’t make it, if he thought he didn’t have a chance. We give everybody a chance that deserves to be here. I think it’s important that he keeps an open mind.

“As always, if he’s that good, we’ll make room for him. We’ve always done that in the past. I don’t think we’ve ever let guys rot in the minors when they deserve to be here. That applies to him; it’s up to him again to come in here in these preseason games and show that he’s an improved player and that he belongs on this hockey club.”

Then, after Spooner scored a goal and was on the ice for two against the Canadiens, Julien said this, per The Boston Globe:

“We love his game offensively. At the same time, you can score one goal, but if you give up two, you’re not helping your team. We need commitment from that part of his game. He said he’s going to work hard at it. But it’s a good start for him. The goal he scored was one we’ve asked him to do — take pucks to the net. That’s a step in the right direction for him.”

MONTREAL — Claude Julien had a field day with officials in the final minute of the Bruins’ 4-0 Game 6 loss to the Canadiens Monday night, and that frustration carried over into his postgame press conference.

Julien was angry that the Canadiens were taking liberties and not getting called for dangerous plays. Julien was angry that what he believed to be a David Desharnais slew-foot onBrad Marchand went uncalled in the third period, with emotions boiling over after Andrei Markov put his stick between Zdeno Chara‘s legs and whacked the Boston captain in the groin.

Scrums ensued from there, and Julien said such things will happen when dirty plays go unpunished.

“Although we’re perceived as the bad guys and they’re the good guys, when Markov trips Chara and then he puts his stick between his legs and nothing’s going to be called, eventually somebody’s going to react,” Julien said. “Whether it’s right or wrong, Zdeno reacted and then everything else started.

“There was a slew-foot before — Desharnais on Marchand. It’s a slew foot. Those are things that we keep talking about that are dangerous in our game. It’s a rivalry and there are some things going on on both sides.”

The Bruins are considered to be the aggressors in pretty much any series they play given their physicality and a tendency to cross the line. Julien said that the Bruins have pulled their share of stunts as well this series, but that Game 6 should show that it isn’t one-sided.

“I’m not portraying ourselves as innocent here,” Julien said. “I’m just saying it takes two teams to [tango].”

Julien was asked one more question after that, with a reporter asking what he expects from the seventh game.

MONTREAL — The marching orders have been delivered. The Bruins are not to talk or think about what happened in Game 6 in 2011, when they had a chance to close out the Canadiens but allowed a pair of 5-on-3 power play goals in a 2-1 loss that extended the series to the fateful Game 7, won by Nathan Horton in overtime.

“This series has nothing to with something that happened three years ago but Montreal always a great power play,” Brad Marchand said. “They’re always very dangerous and have been all series long and we definitely have to make sure we do a good job of staying out of the box.”

Head coach Claude Julien had the same reaction, beginning with forgetting about what happened in 2011.

“I don’t [remember],” Julien quipped. “No short-term memory.”

Of the 13 goals the Bruins have allowed in the series, seven have come on the power play, including the overtime game-winner in Game 1 and both goals in the Game 5 win over the Canadiens. Montreal is 7-for-19 on the power play this series. While the seven number is significant, the 19 might be more alarming since the Bruins know they need to avoid penalties at all costs to avoid a Game 7 Wednesday night in Boston.